1977–78 WHA Season
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The 1977–78 WHA season was the sixth
season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...
of the
World Hockey Association The World Hockey Association () was a professional ice hockey major league that operated in North America from 1972–73 WHA season, 1972 to 1978–79 WHA season, 1979. It was the first major league to compete with the National Hockey League (N ...
(WHA). Eight teams played 80 games each. The
Avco World Trophy The Avco World Trophy, also known as the Avco Cup, is the playoff championship trophy of the defunct World Hockey Association, which operated from 1972 until 1979. The trophy's naming rights were sold to the former Avco Corporation (a name origin ...
winner was the
Winnipeg Jets The Winnipeg Jets are a professional ice hockey team based in Winnipeg. The Jets compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference. The te ...
.


League business

With a reduction of three teams from the end of the previous season (the San Diego Mariners, Phoenix Roadrunners, and Calgary Cowboys folded), the WHA abandoned its divisional format and grouped the remaining eight teams together. There had been a tentative merger agreement that would have had Cincinnati, Houston, New England, Winnipeg, Quebec, and Edmonton join the NHL but it could not be finalized. In a unique move, two international All-Star teams, the Soviet All-Stars and Czechoslovakia All-Stars, played games that counted in the regular season standings. They played each WHA team once, on the WHA team's home ice. The Soviet team acquitted themselves well, winning three plus two additional games against WHA teams outside the regular standings, tying one and losing the other four; while the Czechoslovakian team only won once and tied once, losing six. This is the first time International teams competed in regular season competition in a major professional sports league in North America; those two teams as well as a Finnish team would come back to play the WHA teams the next year. The best six teams qualified for the playoffs. However, instead of the standard schedule for a six-team playoff (i.e., giving the first and second place teams byes into the semifinals, with the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth place teams opening in the quarterfinals), the WHA came up with a unique twist. There were three quarterfinal series instead of two, with the teams paired top to bottom (i.e., 1st vs. 6th, 2nd vs. 5th, 3rd vs. 4th). The highest-seeded quarterfinal winner then received a semifinal bye and advanced directly to the finals, while the remaining two quarterfinal series winners played off in a single semifinal. All series were best four-out-of-seven games.


Regular season

The Howe family of Gordie and his sons
Mark Mark may refer to: In the Bible * Mark the Evangelist (5–68), traditionally ascribed author of the Gospel of Mark * Gospel of Mark, one of the four canonical gospels and one of the three synoptic gospels Currencies * Mark (currency), a currenc ...
and Marty moved to the
New England Whalers New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...
from the Houston Aeros. The trio helped the Whalers to the
Avco Cup The Avco World Trophy, also known as the Avco Cup, is the playoff championship trophy of the defunct World Hockey Association, which operated from 1972 until 1979. The trophy's naming rights were sold to the former Avco Corporation (a name origin ...
final.


Final standings


Player stats


Scoring leaders

Bolded numbers indicate season leaders ''GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes''


Leading goaltenders

Bolded numbers indicate season leaders ''GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties, GA = Goals against; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; SV% =
Save percentage Save percentage (often known by such symbols as SV%, SVS%, SVP, PCT) is a statistic in various Goal (sports), goal-scoring sports that track Save (goaltender), saves as a statistic. In ice hockey and lacrosse and association football, it is a sta ...
; GAA =
Goals against average Goals against average (GAA), also known as average goals against (AGA), is a statistic used in field hockey, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer, and water polo that is the mean of goals allowed per game by a goaltender or goalkeeper (depending on spo ...
''


All-Star Game

The 1978 WHA All-Star game pitted the defending champion
Quebec Nordiques The Quebec Nordiques (, pronounced in Quebec French, in Canadian English; translated "Northmen" or "Northerners") were a professional ice hockey team based in Quebec City. The Nordiques played in the World Hockey Association (1972–1979) an ...
against the stars from the remaining WHA teams. The game was played on 17 January 1978, in Quebec City, and attracted 6,413 spectators. The Nordiques, coached by
Marc Boileau Marc Claude Boileau (September 3, 1932 – December 27, 2000) was a Canadian ice hockey player and coach. He played 55 games in the National Hockey League with the Detroit Red Wings during the 1961–62 season. The rest of his career, which la ...
, won the game 5–4.
Marc Tardif Joseph Gérard Marquis Tardif (born June 12, 1949) is a Canadians, Canadian former professional ice hockey forward (ice hockey), left winger who played in both the National Hockey League (NHL) and the World Hockey Association (WHA), principally ...
and
Mark Howe Mark Steven Howe (born May 28, 1955) is an American former professional ice hockey defenseman and left winger. From 1973 to 1995, he played six seasons in the World Hockey Association (WHA) and sixteen seasons in the National Hockey League (NH ...
were named the players of the game.


Avco World Cup playoffs


WHA awards


Trophies


All-Star Team


See also

* 1977 WHA Amateur Draft *
1977–78 NHL season The 1977–78 NHL season was the List of NHL seasons, 61st Season (sports), season of the National Hockey League. The Montreal Canadiens won their third Stanley Cup in a row, defeating the Boston Bruins four games to two in the 1978 Stanley Cup F ...


References


HockeyDB
{{DEFAULTSORT:1977-78 WHA season 2 2 World Hockey Association seasons WHA WHA